THE MOST BIZARRE THING I HAVE EVER SEEN

For Pday we played capture the flag in someone’s "backyard". Aka a huge JUNGLE. Yes, they had to pull my teeth to play because I was afraid of all the bugs and yes, I found a giant spider crawling up my leg...lost a few years off my life in that moment.

At my first consejos meeting with the other sisters!

Miller and I "on top of Nicaragua!"

President took us out to lunch this week..... a REAL RESTAURANT.

I didn't even know they existed here. It was a lot of fun! Oh and that is 

Elder Oldrod behind us haha what a goof. 

It sounds freezing there! I must admit I DO MISS THE COLD. I never thought I would say that but I really do. It actually isn’t too hot here right now but I am preparing myself for the upcoming months! Everyone says December is the coolest (I just feel like I am in Matagalpa) and then we all roast in an inferno for 5 months. Literally, Miller told me it is what she imagines Hell to be like......... uh oh 

I guess I should get telling you about this week.  Last Monday after I wrote you we had FHE with the cutest member family! Seriously these ladies are the most adorable ppl I have ever met. They have been inviting us over forever and we haven’t had time to go by. So when we showed up Monday they about through a fit they were so excited. The mom is exactly what you would imagine a Latin woman to be. She kind of has a dance motion in her whenever she moves, is so loving, gives lots of hugs and almost sings while she talks. I love her! She calls us her white babies. Haha so cute. She lives with her daughter and son. They are all members and so pilas. Love them. Probably one of my favorite fhe I've had. The spirit there was so sweet and tender. 

This week we’ve had a ton of meetings with President! Tuesday I went to my first "consejos". That is a meeting with all the ZLs, TLs, APs and president. It was there that I met Dennison and got to chat with him for a bit. It was fun to see all the other missionaries and catch up for a bit. At this meeting we present numbers for our "zones" if you are a ZL or the needs of the sisters if you are a TL. Then we all talk about our plans and what we are doing to have success or how we can improve. It is awesome because everyone participates and receives revelation for their callings and areas and how we can help the rest of the missionaries.  Anyways, after that we started discussing the needs of the mission. This time president presented a "desafio" or challenge to us. In which we all worked on for about 3 hours. It was basically the goals we think we should have as a mission and how we can help all the missionaries have success. It was really awesome actually. I kind of felt like I was in a meeting with the President of the country and we were all figuring out how we can save the world... strangely enough that is exactly what we were doing Hehe! 

Wednesday, Miller and I got invited to another meeting with president and some other missionaries. We were invited so we could discuss what we were doing to have success and how we can help all the missionaries have the same success. It was cool. I learned a lot from the other missionaries on how I can improve and what I can work on. Afterwards was the Pres. took us all out to a Restaurant! It was awesome we ate REAL FOOD. I even got mashed potatoes. Who knew such a thing existed in Nicaragua. It was so much fun to be with all the missionaries and visit. Some of the missionaries I was with in Tipitapa were there and they told me one of the investigators I was working with got baptized last week and Enrique was the one that performed the BAPTISM!!! So cool! They also said he received the Melchezedick priesthood and has just been called to be the Ward Mission Leader. HE IS SO AMAZING!! Ahh I miss Tipitapa SOO much and all the sweet ppl there. I already can’t wait for the last week of my mission when I get to go back and VISIT!  Only bad news is I don’t know if I will want to come home after returning and visiting with them! 

This week we have been working hard to find new FAMILIES and we have been so blessed. We literally found a super positive family EVER DAY this week. So cool. Every new family we found this week has either already received lessons from the missionaries a time or two or one member of their family is a member. How incredible is that. It is so much easier to work with ppl who have a little background with the church. I have to tell you about one family we found. Okay this couple is going to be my new Enrique and Corina. We were walking in the street one-day when Millers sock fell off so she was trying to get readjusted when a family walked pass. I wasn’t going to say anything because my comp was occupied but BUENAS came out of my mouth. We walked them back to their house and found out their son that lives in Chinandega is a member and so is his family. They even went to the temple last year so they are super pilas. They also told us they have been searching for a church to join but they just haven’t felt good in any church yet. They wanted to visit ours but they just hadn’t been invited yet. So we QUICKLY invited them and left them with a pamphlet of the Restoration. When we went back to their house his wife was really sick but he came out and talked to us for a little while. He said he had read the WHOLE pamphlet and he loved everything about it. He then went on to explain EVERYTHING he read. It was AWESOME. Most ppl just read it but he STUDIED it. He said how he didn’t know Adam was the first prophet or that there was an apostasy or that God called prophets hoy en dia. He was so interested about the priesthood and he can’t wait to start reading the Book of Mormon! I am telling you this family is GOLDEN I can't wait to work with them more. We found tons of other special families this week that we are going to continue working with as well. How neat! The Lord is really blessing us! 

Saturday Dec. 7th is a crazy holiday here where all the ppl worship the Virgin Mary. Seriously, this holiday was BIZARRE. It was SO HARD to work. Hardly anyone was home. I would say it is a combination of the 4th of July and Halloween. So I guess it is a Catholic holiday where they all worship and praise Mary. Everybody makes HUGE Alters or Presentations with statues or pictures of Mary in the middle and they put them in front of their house. Then all the ppl go house to house (adults and kids) and they have to do a weird chant or sing a song to the Mary statue. Then usually the owner of the house gives a little sermon or preaching session and then they give all the ppl and kids treats or food. This goes on ALL night! And it is not just Catholics that do it... everybody wants free food. There are also weird dancing guys on stilts throughout the streets with little kids surrounding them playing drums. At 6pm EVERY ONE sets off fireworks or firecrackers to signify it is starting and then at 12am every one sets them off again to signify it is ending. IT WAS THE MOST BIZARRE THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! I honestly felt like I was living in the Book of Mormon watching all these ppl worship FALSE IDOLS. Literally worshipping them. There was such a gross feeling in the air. It was just so apparent that those things weren’t of God. Definitely an experience I will never forget.  Seriously these ppl are crazy. They all start shaking when they are "filled with the spirit" and some ppl even fall to the floor. They also think they all receive the gift of tongues when the "spirit touches them" and they just start talking gibberish. Seriously they remind me of Steve Carell in Bruce Almighty. It is gibberish! But that is what they think the gift of tongues is! 

Yesterday night we were able to go to the Christmas Devotional! We brought 3 investigators and a less active. It was really special to watch it with them. The spirit was just so sweet and tender. It is impossible to doubt that this church is true whenever you enter one of our buildings. The spirit is so clean and pure. Completely opposite of how it feels out in the world. I love how I feel whenever I enter the church it is like all my stresses melt away for a quick second. I loved listening to the talks and songs though.

As a mission we are all working really hard to baptize at least one family per companionship this month as a present to our savior Jesus Christ. We are doing a lot of things to strengthen our faith and our efforts but I know we would love prayers from anyone and everyone... the WHOLE mission needs the help of the prayers of the members! 

Okay I love you with all my heart we will talk next week! 

Loves,

Savannah

PS  Oh I forgot to tell you we have a small family of RATS that lives in our house we just found!! It is so gross! We about die every day when they come running out from under the door. I hate RATS!!!!